Love and Survival in a Post-Apocalyptic, Irradiated World
by Merl Laurence
Summary: A collection (100!) of Drabbles – each 100 words long, unless otherwise noted and featuring all of the 100 as well as Bellarke. Will not be in order of the series. Chapter 3: scattered, cruel, decay, memorize
1. sunshine, mercy, routine, water

Love and Survival in a Post-Apocalyptic, Irradiated World

Summary: A collection (100!) of Drabbles – each 100 words long, unless otherwise noted and featuring but not limited to Bellarke. Will not be in order of the series.  
A/N: Don't know why I would do this to myself, but oh well... leave a one-word prompt in reviews/comments if you like and thank you for reading!

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." - Oscar Wilde

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**1. Sunshine**

If you call Bellamy out on it, he would deny it.

No, he was not watching for her as she came out of the drop-ship early in the morning. No, he was not admiring the way the sun, just rising, illuminates her golden tresses causing them to glow like a halo around her tired, striking, blue eyes.

And no, he was definitely not caught off guard by the innocent, intoxicating way she turns her face up to catch the sunshine, absorbing energy from the warming rays.

Good thing the only person gutsy enough to try is Octavia.

And maybe Clarke.

**2. Mercy**

He's frozen in a mixture of fear, uncertainty and – _hope_.

Watching Atom, there's a flicker of hope that maybe something can save him. But as Bellamy sends the others back to camp, holding the knife that Charlotte returns to him to put Atom out of his misery, he acknowledges that there is no such thing.

Only mercy.

He finds himself resentful but thankful that Clarke is there. Bellamy hates her kindness and sympathy because it's not a sign of weakness here. Right now, it only shows how much stronger she is than him.

And he can only respect that.

**3. Routine **(word count: 200)

They developed a pattern – a routine.

They had to.

Before, they were balancing on the edge of civility. Now though, even with less animosity between them, their relationship was still an unpredictable, tenuous one.

He knew, Clarke would always find a contradiction.

She was always so pragmatic.

She knew, to brace for Bellamy to always disagree.

He was always so stubborn.

But (thankfully) part of that routine was that in the end, there was a compromise. Always. And learning to do so was based on mutual respect. Hard earned and (most definitely) well deserved.

In the mornings they would meet over the fire to discuss the camp's needs. Likewise, night would bring them back to that same fire to summarize whether or not the day had gone as planned.

(Often times, not really.)

Lately, with little activity from the Grounders, the routines of Bellamy and Clarke became paramount. And the camp found that they could literally set their time to the two leaders movements. It's funny, how they complemented and depended on one another in the end.

They created a routine because they simply needed one. Just as simply as they realized that they needed _each other_ to survive.

**4. Water – I**

Finn thinks it's kind of amazing how water feels against your skin. Even more so, he's surprised at how buoyant he feels, bouncing up and down across from Clarke. Of course he's read about it in Earth Skills back on the Ark. They all have at one point.

He just never expected it to feel like this. Water was always rationed, so precious and crucial to survival. So sitting here, splashing about in all this liquid, kind of blows his mind. He's feeling blasphemous. But he can't help bobbing up and down and enjoying the astonished expression on Clarke's face.


	2. toxic, water, butterflies, abandonment

Love and Survival in a Post-Apocalyptic, Irradiated World

Summary: A collection (100!) of Drabbles – each 100 words long, unless otherwise noted and featuring but not limited to Bellarke. Will not be in order of the series. Chapter 2: toxic, water, butterflies, abandonment

100100100100100100100100100100

**5. Toxic **

"The air could be toxic."

That was the first time he met Clarke.

And she wasn't wrong to be so cautious. They had no idea when they landed what they would encounter. But there Bellamy was, Octavia by his side, his hand on the lever that could potentially expose them to their deaths or to a new beginning on a new (old) world.

He takes one last look at the blonde, thinks she's kind of cute and yanks the handle.

Later in their struggle to survive, they discover that the earth's toxicity wasn't the only thing to be wary of.

**6. Water - II**

It's the second time they experience rainfall and Clarke finds that she loves the feel of water on her skin.

Yes, her clothes are damp, her hair clings to her head and face and her feet squish in her boots.

But she's no fool. She respects the cleansing, life giving properties of rain. So, they start collecting water in barrels because they need to.

Plus, as she studies Bellamy across from her, water droplets clinging to his dark tendrils as they right a fallen tent together, she admits with a smile, she likes the effect water has on his appearance.

**7. Butterflies**

Octavia knows she's never seen anything so lovely before in her life.

How could she? For all of her young life, all she knew was the drab, utilitarian gray of their quarters and the metallic paneling lining her hole in the floor.

But here, on earth, she discovers those butterflies – with wings a vibrant blue and purple, iridescent and glowing. They flutter above her head, swirl around and float lightly, looking like jewels in the sky. Her breath catches at their beauty and when Atom steps out from behind a tree, she's only too happy to share such a sight.

**8. Abandoned**

The little girl is probably the youngest they have in camp. At ten years old, it's frightening to think the current penal system of the last of humanity finds it morally okay to incarcerate someone so young. No matter how severe the crime.

Clarke acknowledges guardedly she doesn't know the full details of why Charlotte is there. But that doesn't change the feelings of hopelessness and abandonment that Clarke can feel radiating off of the young girl.

It causes Clarke to hold her tighter, tucking Charlotte closer to her side as she watches her drift off to a fitful sleep.


	3. scattered, cruel, decay, memorize

Love and Survival in a Post-Apocalyptic, Irradiated World

Summary: A collection (100!) of Drabbles – each 100 words long, unless otherwise noted and featuring but not limited to Bellarke. Will not be in order of the series. Chapter 3: scattered, cruel, decay, memorize

100100100100100100100100100100

**9. Scattered**

"What are you doing, Monty?" Jasper's eyes are buggy because he totally knows what Monty's doing.

"Packing up some Jobi nuts – can you imagine? When the next batch of moonshine is ready?"

Images of Grounders burst unbidden into Jasper's vision and he clumsily walks further into the tent, knocking the table and causing the Jobi nuts to fall to the muddy floor.

Monty's mouth hangs open as he looks forlornly at the scattered treats and he understands immediately. "It's okay, Jasper," he says, laying a comforting hand on his buddy's arm. "Just moonshine, next time, okay?"

Jasper smiles, relieved.

**10. Cruel **(300 words)

Clarke thinks the poor girl in front of her is possibly the third (or is it fifth?) – delinquent she's yelled at. Though the looks she's getting from Raven and Octavia tell her she _screamed_ instead of _yelled_ at her previous string of victims.

But she can't help it. So what if she's being cruel.

Out of the remaining eighty-seven or so of them left, only a handful give a fuck and she clearly knows who they are.

But the rest? God, she so needs them to get their shit together.

Apathetic, unmotivated (even though their very survival is at stake), inattentive, unthinking and ill prepared. (That last one she can't blame for, really.)

The thing is, she and Bellamy have their hands full, the thought of telling them about the most mundane things – _no, drinking Monty's moonshine is not going to help you stay up all night for guard duty! _and _no, eating the red berries off of the bushes on the south side of camp is bad idea, haven't you seen the dead rodents underneath those very same bushes? –_ it's enough to cause her to want to pull her hair out.

She knows they're just kids.

_She's_ just a kid, _too_.

But, as Clarke looks at the girl in front of her, too afraid to move lest she yell at her again, Clarke realizes that this is just her fate. She gently squeezes the girl's – Rachel's – shoulder, and starts bandaging the self-inflicted-because-she-was-too-busy-gossiping-cut-on-her-hand and manages what she thinks is a reassuring smile.

She _is_ the responsible one.

Sucks to be her. Followers, follow. Doers, do.

Good thing Bellamy is responsible too. Even if it's by default because he's older and because of Octavia.

At least she can find some comfort in that she's not alone.

**11. Decay**

Clarke involuntarily gags at the smell of decay assaulting her senses. The smell of rotting flesh is new because up on the Ark, they never had to deal with anything like this.

They just floated it – anything and everything – pushed it into an airlock and jettisoned the offending item (or person) into the blackness of space.

"Gross," Miller breathes out next to her. Sometimes exploring their new world held surprises of a different, happier, kind. This time unfortunately, as she and Miller back away from the corpse of a heavily disfigured bear, is clearly not one of them.

**12. Memorize **(200 words)

Clarke thinks she can do it.

In fact, she _knows_ she can.

She just needs to get her sketchbook and one of those pencils that Finn gave her from the shelter all those months ago. Gazing down at Bellamy's sleeping face and pushing the dark curls on his forehead back, she knows – she could totally map his freckles.

From the ones sprinkled sparsely across his forehead, to the bit on the bridge of his nose, to the smattering covering his cheeks and across to the handful above his upper lip, tucked against the bow of his lips and finally to the speck dotting his chin.

But Clarke can't leave now.

Bellamy still hasn't woken. After operating on him for most of yesterday morning to remove the arrows (yes, plural) from his midsection and an uncharacteristically restful, uncomplicated and easy night, she admits she doesn't want to leave his side.

She hasn't ever, so she wasn't about to start now.

Besides Clarke reasons, as she notes the healthy coloring in his features and his even, normal breathing with a warmth and sense of relief. She doesn't really need her sketchbook to map his freckles. She's already kind of memorized them.


End file.
